Once Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobot team arrived at their base, Ratchet was urgently taken to the medical bay so Fixit could repair the damages that were caused by the Decepticon scientist, Shockwave. Afterwards, they gathered together in the main area and began on searching for their captured allies through the main control panel while the old medic was under repair.

Ratchet sat on the medical berth and watched how the small orange mini-con carefully put the finishing touches on his bitarlueus, "How could I be so foolish..." the doctor muttered under his breath, looking at his condition. He shook his head, his appearance wasn't bothering him as much as the mistake he made earlier.

"Don't worry about it, Ratchet." Fixit spoke as he attempted to lighten up his gloomy mood a bit, "I've been able to mend all of the damage for now but I suggest you to not make any sharp movements until you get fully recovered." he advised, finishing with fixing the last deep dent on his forearm.

Without both of them noticing the figure who approached the entrance of the Med-bay, a loud "Ahem" startled the small bot and made the doctor rapidly look up to the way he heard the unexpected voice. The two mechs turned around and saw Arcee at the large doorway with crossed servos, leaning on the wall, "Optimus requested assistance at the command center as soon as you are ready here." the blue femme informed the orange mini-con.

Fixit immediately gave out a small salute after putting away his medical tools, "Of course, ma'am!" he then waved at Ratchet and hurriedly went to the other members of their team to help out, leaving Arcee and Ratchet in the medical bay, completely alone.

Arcee watched him leave and then her gaze focused on Ratchet, who stared at the floor, not being able to say a single word, "Hey." the femme greeted quietly as she walked up to him.

Ratchet closed his optics and let out a heavy vent when she approached him, "Arcee..." he started, continuing to avoid eye contact with her, "Look, I'm sorry for what happened. I am completely aware and ashamed of what I have done. I need you to believe me, it was never my intention to--"

"I know, I know." she interrupted as she raised her servo, the femme looked down as well in both shame and sadness, "I'm the one who should apologize." the medic glanced at her and she continued, "A lot of things happened so quickly... we lost so many of our close ones to the hands of those jerks, that I finally let out my rage at someone else. And unfortunately, that someone had to be you..."

"You had the full right." said Ratchet in a pained tone, she stared at the doctor with sympathy, "You gave me a responsibility, to watch over her... a simple one, yet I failed."

"I deserved it." he mumbled out, but Arcee was close enough to him to hear those last three words.

"No, you didn't." the femme objected, the medic's helm lifted up at the smaller blue Autobot soldier, "You tried to keep her safe, you even risked your life. I was the one who gave her to you, Optimus assigned me as her guardian." she put a servo on her chest, indicating herself, "I was supposed to take care of her, not you."

Ratchet kept his dermas closed, his cyan optics scanning his servos which he held together, resting on his tibulens, "I know I shouldn't have taken her outside our base, but--"

"You guys only wanted to help. I would have done the same." she added gloomily, "When we save them, I will- I will have a talk with her... if she even is..."

"She will be." Ratchet disturbed her bad thoughts, "Believe me, she is a strong young woman, I saw it with my own optics, she has a brave heart and a smart mind. Don't be so harsh on her, she only wanted you to return safe and unharmed. She truly cares about you, Arcee." he warmly told her, attempting to give her hope.

The blue femme looked away, her face-plate in slight distress. At least, that was what Ratchet was able to see, but inside her spark, she was more troubled and angered than ever, "...I care about her too. More than I thought I could. 'Guess it's just... guardian instincts." she assumed and shrugged, "And the rest... what if- what if we don't see them again?"

Ratchet put a servo on her shoulder-pad, "We will. We will see everyone again. We won't let the Decepticons to take them away from us, not now, not ever. Our friends are counting on us and we should keep fighting, for the sake of their lives. And for the sake of our worlds."

Arcee nodded, fully understanding what he actually meant. They stood next to each other in silence and for comfort until loud and fast-running heavy pedes approached the medical bay, causing the two Autobots to look at the source of the sound, "Guys! GUYS!!" the loud voice of Smokescreen echoed through the base as he rushed to them.

"What is it?" Arcee raised a question.

"Think we got them!" the young mech exclaimed with positive energy.

"You have?!" both the medic and the femme cried out in disbelief.

"C'mon, you have to come and see! Hurry!" he swiftly told them and scurried to the main area again.

Before Arcee could follow his lead, she stopped in her tracks and glanced at the orange medic who was struggling to get up. He managed to balance himself on his pedes, Arcee decided to dash by his side, trying to keep him steady so as not to fall on the floor, putting her servo on his back and holding his arm over her shoulder. The femme looked up at him, raising an optical ridge, "Didn't Fixit tell you not to make any sharp movements until you recover?"

Ratchet grunted as he held his side-plating and began stepping towards the main area along with the femme, "I'm a stubborn mech, Arcee. I thought you already knew that."

Arcee's intake formed a small smile, "Thank you, for the talk."

"I think we both needed it." Ratchet answered as they kept on walking.

The two of them finally arrived in the area where their teammates were all gathered together, "You found them?" Arcee asked.

"It appears so, ma'am." Strongarm responded as she stood in front of the computer system, "We received unexpected Decepticon coordinates. From what we could analyze it seems they are coming from a natural void in the ground, a perfect hiding spot for a criminal, if you ask me." the cadet reported.

Ratchet took off his arm from Arcee and slowly came closer to the screen, "It's- on our Earth?"

"So Shockwave did have more secret hideouts here." Arcee stepped forward, standing beside them with crossed arms and furrowed optical ridges, "This is why we couldn't find that piece of scrap metal for so long, he hid himself, working on his little project, while we were distracted with restoring Cybertron, capturing freed prisoners... all this time he had a plan of how to defeat us."

"Also, made an entire army of Vehicon soldiers to do his dirty job." Smokescreen inserted, not so pleased about that discovered information.

"He was the one who actually built that Spacebridge and found their world..." the medic included silently, not wanting to believe the truth itself.

Smokescreen impatiently stepped in, "What are we waiting for then? We have to go there and stop him!" he suggested, prepared for a fight.

"Hold on, what if it's another trap?" the smaller femme asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, how we are sure those 'Cons ain't messin' with us?" added Grimlock who was already transformed into his robot mode.

Smokescreen turned at him, "Do we have any other options? What if this signal was sent by the others?! This means that they are okay!" he said optimistically.

"Don't be so fast, Smokescreen." Ratchet stopped him, "We need to be very careful with our actions. How could we be entirely sure if that's even true?"

"Shockwave has an intelligent mind, remember that?" Arcee reminded him, "He is not that stupid to drop a signal that leads right to his secret place, it will ruin all of his precious research and work."

"But even if he wants their powers, how he can even take them?" the young blue mech questioned, "I don't think that guy has ever worked with magic before and I'm pretty sure he doesn't even believe that magic exists, only science."

As he carefully listened through their conversation, Optimus said, "Shockwave is not to be underestimated. He will always find a way to get to something that he wants. And with Starscream and Soundwave on his side... once they get their servos on such great power... it might be over. For all of us."

The team exchanged nervous glances towards each other, the Prime then declared, "I'm afraid we have no choice but to go and find out ourselves."

Ratchet focused his attention on him and spoke, "Optimus, please think this through carefully. All of us just returned from immense battles with those Decepticons and they captured our close allies in the process. The chances of you getting in their trap as well is very high."

The Autobot leader thought about his opinion but all of them had no other option but to proceed, "We will take this risk, there is no time for us to waste. Arcee, Smokescreen, Strongarm and Grimlock, you are coming with me. Ratchet and Fixit will remain in the base." he ordered and the others nodded.

The medic, however, decided to step in, preventing the Prime to draw nearer to the Groundbridge, "I cannot stay here without doing nothing, while all of you are out there fighting for the sake of our friends' lives. It was my fault for bringing Twilight to Shockwave, I want to come along with you and assist you in rescuing them."

Optimus gently put his large servo on the old doctor's shoulder-pad, "You've done enough, old friend. You need to recover your strength for the rest when they are back, just in case, someone has been injured. Both of you have to stay prepared for our call." reading by his bothered expression, Ratchet didn't seem to really agree with his leader's final decision, but he knew there was no time to complain or to object. The Prime then looked at the mini-con who was standing on the large control panel and gave out a command, "Fixit, sent us near to those coordinates. We need to be prepared for what awaits us."

Fixit swiftly replied to his request, "Yes, sir!" he activated the bridge and a bright light emerged from the center of the big portal.

When everyone else transformed and were ready to depart, Optimus cried out, "Roll out!" he converted into his vehicle mode and took off, the other members following him through the portal. After they vanished into the brightness, the Groundbridge closed, leaving the concerned mini-con and medic all alone in their entire secret base.

Ratchet couldn't do anything except to wait and pray to Primus for all of them to come back alive.